are not, and we give the following reasons for our belief:

1. If souls exist at all after death, they must exist somewhere. The soul is an entity. It must have a dwelling-place. The fact that it is invisible does not do away with the necessity for an abode. It is neither omnipresent on the one hand, nor non-present anywhere on the other.

2. Still more clearly, the fact that there will be material bodies in heaven proves that it must be a place. That there are such bodies there is certain. Christ has a human body. That body must be in some definite place, and can only be in one place at one time. Similarly Enoch and Elijah, who were translated without seeing death, have bodies, and those bodies must be in some place. Moreover, at the Great Day we shall all assume again the garments of the body, which are laid off at death; and those bodies will be real bodies, and will demand a real place in which to dwell. No doubt the resurrection body will be different in certain respects from that which we now possess. In what the differences will consist

we shall see at a subsequent part of these discussions. Here we merely state the fact that it will still be a material body, which is all we require to know for our present purpose. Being a material body, the resurrection body must have a material place in which to dwell. This is clear beyond a peradventure.

3. Again, heaven is expressly called a place in Holy Scripture. "I go," Christ says, "to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John xiv. 2, 3). Judas, when he died, went to "his own place" below; so the saints at death wing their flight to their own place above. There are multitudes of passages to this effect. Our Lord speaks of heaven constantly as a definite locality. "Take heed," He says, "that ye despise not one of these little ones: for I say unto you, that in heaven" (surely a definite place is here indicated) "their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. xviii. 10). To the dying thief He said, "This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise" (Luke xxiii. 43),-again surely

meaning a definite locality, as much as did Paul when he told his readers at Corinth that he "was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter" (2 Cor. xii. 4). If words mean anything, there is only one conclusion to be drawn from such statements as these, and that conclusion is that somewhere in the universe of God there is a place called heaven, a material place fitted for the occupation of material bodies, a place as real as this earth on which we now dwell. We may not be able to tell precisely where this place is. Our telescopes, which search so far into the starry depths, cannot discover it to us, and all our reasoning may not be able to indicate its exact locality. But as to the fact that somewhere this bright spot does exist, the place to which Jesus ascended on that memorable day when He led the disciples out "as far as to Bethany

. . and was parted from them and carried up into heaven" (Luke xxiv. 50, 51); the place to which Enoch ascended when "he was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him" (Heb.

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xi. 5); the place to which Elijah was carried in his fiery chariot right up from the banks of Jordan; and to which our own departed friends winged their flight when they fell asleep in Jesus, we need entertain no more doubt than

we do of the existence of this earth on which we now walk. Most certainly

"There is a land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign;
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.

Oh, could we make our doubts remove-
Those gloomy doubts that rise,
And see the Canaan that we love

With unbeclouded eyes!

Could we but climb where Moses stood,

And view the landscape o'er;

Not Jordan's stream, nor death's cold flood,
Should fright us from the shore!"

II. Let us now look at a second point. We have seen that heaven is certainly a place. Let us see if we can discover anything as to where this place is. The fact that there is such a place will not, of course, be affected by the result of such an inquiry. Although entertaining no doubt of its existence, it is quite possible that we may not be able to identify it.

Here our difficulties begin. We have had no difficulty in arriving at the certain conclusion that there is a definite locality called heaven. On this point the Bible is clear. But Holy Writ nowhere tells us in so many words where this place is situated. Yet we cannot help asking the question. We echo the child's words,

"I hear thee speak of the better land;
Thou callest its children a happy band.
Mother! oh, where is that radiant shore?
Shall we not seek it, and weep no more?"

Moreover, we not only ask the question-we answer it. In our own minds we arrive at settled conclusions on the subject, consciously or unconsciously. Probably there is not one of us who has not his own ideas regarding it, ideas of whose existence we are not perhaps aware until we begin to inquire into them. But we have them.

What are some of these ideas? They vary much. Many people have no further notion of the locality of heaven than that it is somewhere in the sky. Put the question to any company of ordinary people where is heaven? and